Cops close probe into Loop high-rise death

April 20, 2009

Chicago police said today detectives have concluded their investigation into the death of a 29-year-old woman who fell from a Loop high-rise apartment building early Saturday and have determined there was no criminal activity involved in the incident.

Brittney Stafford, who grew up in Indiana but whose last known address was in the Lake View neighborhood, fell from a building in the 100 block of West Lake Street around 5 a.m. Saturday, authorities and family members said.

An autopsy on Sunday by the Cook County medical examiner's office also ruled that Stafford's death was accidental.

Police were releasing few details about Stafford's death.

Stafford, a graduate of Indiana University, was with a group of people early Saturday morning in an apartment when the incident occurred, her brother, Eric, said in an interview from the family's home in Indianapolis.

"She was at a friend's, that all we know right now," Eric Stafford, one of three of Brittney's brothers, said Sunday night. "They told us it was an accident and we're working off that."

He said there were several people in the apartment that morning and friends were trying to speak to those who were with her. Family members declined further comment.